Wednesday, 22 February 2017

This
is the last stop of our Belur, Salem heritage walk. This Perumal temple is on
the banks of Vashista nadhi. This temple is dedicated to Perumal and his sister
Parasakthi in the name of Maragatha valli.

Moolavar
: Sri Ashtabuja Bala Madhana Venugopala Swamy.

Thayar :
Sri Poongothai

Some
of the important features of this temple are….

The
temple is facing east with a three tier Rajagopuram. Anjaneyar and Garuda thoon
are in front of the Rajagopuram but not on the same line.

The
sanctum sanctorum consists of Sanctum, Arthamandapam
and front mandapam. Palipedam, Dwajasthambam, Garudalwar are in the front mandapam. Since Garudalwar belongs to
Rama avathara period, the wings are in chopped condition ( who fought with Ravana
while Seetha was taken to Lanka ). Dwarabaklakars
are at the entrance of the artha mandapam looks beautiful.

In
the artha mandapam moorthams of Alwars. In the sanctum moolavar Sri Ashtabuja
Bala Madhana Venugopala Swamy is with Sri Devi and Bhoodevi. ( Urchavars are
kept at Sri Than Thondreeswarar temple considering the safety).

Moolavar is in the form of a relief panel with eight
hands holding various weapons and articles including a sugar cane (
signifies to remover the bad desires of
sex ). The upper two hands holding the Conch and disc belongs to Sri Vishnu.
The two hands below belongs to Krishna avathar. The bottoms 4 hands belongs to Balaraman an
incarnation of Sri Vishnu. The
cheeks on both sides has the
different characters. The left cheek is smooth belongs to feminine character and right cheek
is little rough belongs to masculine. The
dress on the left is chiseled like pancha kacha
saree and on the right leg like male. On the top of the head, the 7 hooded adhisheshan.

Maragatha
Valli Ambal is in a separate temple like
sannadhi. Ambal looks old age. As per
the legend, Ambal took different incarnations like Kamakshi, Visalakshi, Ulagammai,
Parvathy, Thatchiyaayani. The story
starts at Madurai. A devotee (Kanchanalai in the next birth ) treated Meenakshi
as a child and used to sing thalattu to make her to sleep. Ambal was pleased by her devotion and
promised her that she will take rebirth as Meenakshi to her. The devotee was blessed to take
rebirth as Kanchanamalai and married to
Pandya king. Perumal as a brother conducted the marriage of Sri Meenakshi with Lord Shiva. So Ambal
Maragathavalli took the form of a old mother and bless the devotees in this
temple.

It
was believed that Vashistar installed this moortham. The mandapam was built during Nayak Period
and their emblem of kuruval with sun and moon are in the form of reliefs. ( the
dog in the moon signifies what? ). A kannada or Telegu inscription is on the entrance steps of the artha mandapam.

TEMPLE TIMINGS:

The
temple will be kept open between 06.00 Hrs to 11.00 Hrs and 16.00 Hrs to 20.00
Hrs.

CONTACT DETAILS:

HOW TO REACH:

The
temple is about 30 KM from Salem and 6 Km from Valapadi.

Town
bus and share autos are available from Valapadi.

The
temple is on the other side of the Vashista nadhi a walkable distance from the
bus stop.